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Body Drama: Real Girls, Real Bodies, Real Issues, Real Answers

“You’d think a Miss America swimsuit winner would feel completely confident about her body, right? Not always! So I decided to write the book I wish I’d had as a teen and in college— an honest, funny, practical, medically accurate, totally reassuring guide to how women’s bodies actually look, smell, feel, behave, and change. Alongside real-deal photographs of women just like you and me (no airbrushing, no supermodels, no kidding) you’ll find medical pictures of things you need to be able to recognize, true confessions by yours truly, and the encouragement you need to appreciate the uniqueness, strength, and beauty of your body. What are you waiting for?”
–Nancy Redd

From fashion magazines to taboo Web sites, curious young women have access to tons of old wives’ tales about and thousands of airbrushed and inaccurate images of the female body—misinformation and harmful portrayals that can lead to low self-esteem, self-destructive acts, or even disturbing plastic surgery procedures. Teaming up with a leading physician specializing in adolescent health issues, Harvard graduate and former Miss Virginia Nancy Redd now offers a down-to-earth, healing, and reassuring response to those damaging myths. In Body Drama, Redd gives girls insight into the issues they’re often too ashamed to raise with a doctor or parent. She also reveals her own experiences with the culture of “American beauty,” and shows readers all the many versions of “normal.” From body hair and bras, to acne and weight issues, along with crucial issues such as the importance of a healthy self image, Body Drama is a groundbreaking book packed with informative fast facts, FYIs, how-tos, and moving personal anecdotes as well as hundreds of un-retouched photographs. A highly visual book, it’s the first of its kind for women: filled with real information and real photographs of real bodies, to celebrate all our different shapes and sizes.

Named by Glamour magazine as one of America’s top-ten college women “most likely to succeed—at anything,” Redd has spent the most recent years of her life on a mission to tackle the issues least discussed but most significant in young women’s lives. Celebrating the many versions of “normal,” and replacing seriously erroneous information with the honest, medically proven truth in a language all girls can understand, Body Drama dares to empower a new generation—with facts instead of fantasies, and the priceless gift of self-knowledge.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars I can’t wait to give this to my daughter
I think that if I’d had this book growing up, I wouldn’t hate my body so much. It’s easy to read “Body Drama” now and utterly agree with it, but the deep-seated beliefs dominate. I can’t help but to think that raising my daughter to have fantastic self-esteem, and then giving her this book when she reaches a certain age, will prevent the cycle of self-hatred from continuing. I wish there was a version for boys, although obviously I realize it’s not the same for them. I’m sad for those who give this a low review because they’re “offended.” Don’t you realize the profound change a work like this can effect? Thank you, Nancy Redd, for creating hope for the future even when pasts can’t be changed. I am grateful.

5 Stars Wonderful book for all ages
Nancy Redd’s Body Drama is a good read for young ladies starting puberty to grown women. She covers everything a woman needs to know about her body and how to properly take care of it. It’s a fun read, it’s not dry and boring so young ladies will grasp it. This book shows ladies that everyone’s body is not the same and we need to appreciate and love the body God gave us.

5 Stars I wish someone had given me this book when I was a teen!
An essential book for any female pre-teen and teen. At a time when one is going through so many changes and feeling weird and abnormal about their body, a book like this would definitely help ease some of those worries. I know I would’ve appreciated a book like this when I was younger. I’m 24, and it has even helped me now!

Some people feel that some of the pictures in the book are too graphic, but I feel they’re important. It is much better for young girls who worry if they are ‘normal’ down there to see the realistic pictures in this book, than the airbrushed images of girls online. The author is very open about the images in the book, and it is mentioned in the summary on amazon so it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

The only issue I had with this book was that I felt there were a lot of issues touched on but not really discussed. I know it was a matter of space, there is just too much to include. I feel that the author did a great job of including as much as she could and answering a lot of really important questions.

It’s about time a book like this became widely available!

5 Stars Real Beauty
If you are a woman, you probably have, at one time or another, wondered (or stressed) about the shape and look of your body. Especially in our Hollywood-Obsessed society where looks still seem to be everything, it’s hard for young girls to develop a healthy self-esteem. Never mind getting a good idea of what a healthy, normal, female body is supposed to look like. That’s exactly where “Body Drama” comes in. This book is like the real-life issue of “Glamour Magazine” and “Playboy” combined. It deals with questions about bodily functions and malfunctions that many girls and women would be uncomfortable talking about. The topics range from bad breath, to back acne, to genital herpes, to normal body shapes and much more. If that in itself doesn’t sound too original, wait until you see the pictures. There are tons of pictures of real women with normal- not airbrushed bodies. This is exactly what makes the book so great. It helps to bring us back to reality and redefine what normal really looks like. A must read for any girl and woman between 14 and 40. Even if you are long past your own puberty you can still take away something positive. Just as long as you aren’t particularly squeamish, some of the pictures are very REAL.

5 Stars Highly recommended
I am a social worker and bought this book to keep in my office to use with clients. However, it ended up at one of my twenty-something girlfriends weekends and everyone was reading it saying “I didn’t know that!” and “I wish I’d had this book when I was in high school.” The casual, non-textbook language makes it friendly for teens and normalizes typical female body issues. The one caution: there are pictures of naked women and naked vaginas, highlighting the fact that not everyone looks just alike. Parents of younger teens might want to talk about these pages with their teens.

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